way painfully conscientious; Schaertlin was the
cautious but agreeable egotist. All the good qualities of decaying
knighthood were united in the simple soul of the possessor of Hornburg,
whilst the Herr von Burtenbach was, on the contrary, thoroughly a son
of the new time; soldier, negotiator, and diplomat. Both were with the
Imperial army which invaded France in 1544; Schaertlin, in the prime of
life as a general, Goetz as an old gray-headed knight with a small troop
of vassals: the same year Schaertlin was created Imperial Lord High
Steward and Captain General, and acquired seven thousand gulden. Goetz
rode, ill and lonely, in the rear of the returning army back to his
castle. Both have written their lives in a firm soldier's hand; that of
Goetz is less skilful and well arranged, but his biography will be read
with greater sympathy than that of Schaertlin: Goetz takes pleasure in
relating his knightly adventures, as good comrades recall their
recollections of old times over a glass of good wine; Schaertlin gives a
perspicuous statement in chronological order, and favours the reader
with many dry but instructive details of great political transactions;
but respecting himself, he prefers giving an account of his gains and
his vexatious quarrels with his landed neighbours.

These quarrels, nevertheless, however uniform their course, claim the
greatest interest here; for it is precisely by them that we discover
how much the proceedings of the landed nobility had changed since the
beginning of the century. There is the same love of feuds, as in the
youthful days of the Berlichingen; deeds of violence still continue to
abound, and numerous duodecimo wars are planned; but the old feeling of
self-dependence is broken, the spirit of public tranquillity and of
courts of justice hovers over the disputants, neighbours and kind
friends interpose, and the lawless seldom defy the Imperial mandate or
the will of the reigning princes without punishment. Sudden surprises
and insidious devices take the place of open feuds; instead of the
cross-bow and sword, adversaries make use of not less destructive
weapons--calumny, bribery, and intrigues. Satirical songs had for a
century been paid for and listened to with pleasure, and the travelling
singers made themselves feared, as they ridiculed a niggardly host in
their songs at a hundred firesides.

Schaertlin relates as follows:--

"Anno 1557. In this year I, Sebastian Schaertlin, bought